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Joseph Preston
Background * D, State Rep, 24th, won primary by tight margin in 2006 over Ed Gainey Insights Misc. Stories 5/4/2006 State House of Representative District 24 Writer: BRENTIN MOCK bmock@steelcitymedia.com State Rep. Joseph Preston is feeling the heat. Last month, he sent a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell asking when the state would deliver on $19.3 million in state Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding. Soaring utility rates have hurt many residents in Preston’s district, which includes the city neighborhoods of East Liberty, Highland Park, Homewood, Lincoln-Larimer, as well as the communities of Wilkinsburg and Aspinwall. “Any appearance that the state is delaying action the money would be self-defeating,” said Preston in an April 18 press release. But one of Preston’s two Democratic primary challengers says that by supporting the “Responsible Utility Customer Protection Act,” Preston has left low-income families out in the cold. “Preston overturned 30 years of consumer-protection laws,” says Ed Gainey, a former staffer in former mayor Tom Murphy’s administration. “That’s not empowering communities; if anything it’s taking from communities.” The act was passed after utilities complained that customers who didn’t pay their bills were increasing costs for everyone else. The measure makes it easier for utility companies to shut off service for delinquent customers. What his opponents don’t realize, says Preston, is, “For the first time ever, when we passed this bill you saw utility companies putting in money to aid low-income families, and for the first time also the state and federal government kicked in money.” But while natural-gas prices in the district increased by 47 percent this winter, the $19.3 million has been held up by negotiations between the state and the federal government. Without that money, Preston, a 12-term incumbent and Gainey’s former boss, may be in hot water. Gainey ran against Preston in 2004, and won the Democratic Party endorsement. He was later bounced from the ballot, however, for incorrectly filing a financial disclosure statement. This time around, Gainey has been more careful with the paperwork, and has again secured the party’s endorsement. Gainey also points to what he sees — or doesn’t see — in the blighted neighborhood of Homewood as another reason Preston should go. As proof of his own expertise in revitalizing communities, Gainey cites his experience working with East Liberty Development Incorporated and as Murphy’s special projects manager. He takes credit for helping East Liberty land The Home Depot hardware store and Whole Foods organic grocery store, as well as other nearby residential and community projects. It won’t be easy for Gainey to dethrone the man who schooled him in politics. Homewood, the most sensitive area of the district, doesn’t have South Side Works-scale projects popping off, but Preston has secured millions for a new Homewood YMCA and Carnegie library, and a new East Liberty hotel. If the race is close, the difference could come from whatever votes are sent to the third Democrat in the primary, William Anderson, owner of Pittsburgh’s Finest Auto Body and Detailing. “I am the spoiler,” says Anderson. “I’m going to spoil it for Joe and Ed.” Anderson, the only Homewood resident in the race, has Democratic Party family and social associations, though he only earned one vote in the party endorsement process. Anderson says he didn’t want to be on the ballot in the first place, saying the $500 entry fee was too steep. Anderson has previously pled guilty to drug-related offenses. Neither Preston nor Gainey has challenged Anderson on that score, but Anderson’s past could prevent him from taking office. The state Constitution prohibits anyone who has committed an “infamous crime” from serving in the legislature. If Anderson won the election, “there is a very real chance he would face a challenge from being able to sit” particularly from Republicans, says Jake Wheatley, the state representative for the Hill District. In 2002, Wheatley’s own candidacy was threatened for a crime he was convicted of in Michigan. Wheatley argued the offense would have been classified as a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania and had it expunged from his record before taking office. In general, Wheatley says, people shouldn’t be discouraged from bettering themselves and their communities because of past crime. “Fight for your neighborhood,” says Wheatley.